Additive manufacturing, commonly known as “three-dimensional (3D) printing,” is a suite of computer automated technologies to fabricate 3D structural and functional parts, usually layer by layer, from 3D model data. Currently, the technology has been applied in various industries including automotive, aerospace, biomedical, energy, consumer goods and many others. Of these applications, 3D bioprinting is a revolutionary advance for printing arbitrary cell patterns as well as creating heterogeneous living constructs. Most importantly, cell printing provides a promising solution to the problem of organ donor shortages by printing 3D tissue/organ constructs for implantation, resulting in what is known as organ printing.

The talk first reviews the definition and classification of additive manufacturing and the perspective of ongoing bioprinting research. Then it introduces process innovations in 3D bioprinting using continuous extrusion, drop-on-demand inkjetting, and drop-on-demand laser-induced forward transfer technologies, which are being studied at the University of Florida. Finally, this talk shares some thoughts regarding basic scientific challenges during bioprinting.